Back to the Mewture
by Nr36
Summary: After the failure of the Fortune Cookie scheme, Ludo struggles to invent a new evil plan, even with Toffee's help. After a chance encounter with an Earth movie, they come up with the idea of building a time machine. Their plan? Re-write history to benefit monsterkind. Can Star and Marco foil this dynamic duo's seemingly foolproof plan?
1. The Die is Cast

A lingering scowl made its way across Ludo's face. He sat in his chair and looked around at the various members of his army disparagingly. He tried to grasp just how far he was from achieving his life's goals. He tried to come up with a reason why all of his attempts to purloin Star Butterfly's magic wand had gone horribly—and in some cases, catastrophically—wrong. But no matter what Ludo did, all he encountered was anger and disappointment.

"If only one of my plans would work!" he groaned. "The whole multiverse would be mine!"

It was the design of the evil schemes that caused them to fail—and result in the kappa's perpetually mounting frustration. His plans were predictable and trite; Ludo and his army would attack Star and her best friend, Marco Diaz, in broad daylight. And yet every time Ludo and his army would strike, the same things always happened. Star would cast spells to quickly incapacitate Ludo's minions, and Marco would use his karate to help her beat them even deeper into the pavement. After a few minutes of fighting, Ludo would humiliatingly defeated and would find himself having to open a dimensional portal, take his minions back to his castle, and restart the process all over again a few days later.

Ludo sighed with contempt. "If only there was an easier way!"

While Ludo sat around ranting and feeling sorry for himself, Toffee, a recent hire of Ludo's, felt an idea enter his mind. An idea that felt like it should be shared.

"Perhaps if we were to take a vote, we could see if anyone else has ideas for a new evil scheme." he plainly suggested.

"Okay, everyone!" Ludo shouted, pointing towards his cronies. "A quick show of hands! Anyone know how we can steal Star's wand without losing?"

No one dared raise a single hand. Ludo immediately became distraught.

"Aargh! Why do you have to be so difficult to work with? Can't you at least come up with—"

Before Ludo could finish his rant, Buff Frog walked into the room carrying a large, black, rectangular machine. As usual, he performed his customary salute before speaking. While doing so, he unintentionally dropped the machine on the floor.

"Ludo! Master!" he cried. "Look what I've found!"

"What is _that_ thing?" Ludo asked as he pointed to what Buff Frog had brought with him.

"Star Butterfly watches it all the time. It may hold key to her secrets."

Ludo scrunched his eyebrows in scrutiny. "Secrets? Like what kind of secrets?"

"Maybe this machine will tell us about Princess Butterfly's personal secrets." Toffee speculated. "Maybe we could find out a better way to steal her wand. Then we could finally bring an end to this arduous war."

Buff Frog plugged the machine into the projector and turned it on.

Toffee cleared his throat and began a speech. "Gentlemen. I would like you to direct your attention to the screen in front of you. What you are about to see will change you life forever."

Ludo pressed the play button on his remote control and after a few seconds, a visual image appeared on the screen. But it wasn't what anyone had expected. It was a black screen with white text on it, with the sound of clocks ticking in the background. After a few more seconds passed, a logo appeared on the screen. It read:

 **BACK TO THE FUTURE**

Ludo slammed his finger down on the stop button. "Are you kidding me?! You went out of your way to steal what could have been the key to getting Star's wand, and all we get is this?"

"Master, I thought that—"

"Hold on." Toffee interrupted. "This might not be as big of a let-down as you make it seem."

Ludo sneered sardonically and slammed his fists down on a nearby table. "How will this machine help me get her wand if the disc inside it doesn't tell me anything about her secrets?!"

"Sadly, it won't." muttered Toffee in a dark voice. "But at least we can have fun watching whatever is inside the machine."

"Ah, fine." Ludo sighed as he pressed the play button and resumed watching.

* * *

About an hour into the film, they reached the scene where Doc Brown warned Marty about interacting with people in 1955, claiming this would have repercussions on future events. Marty handed Doc the family picture from his wallet, and then Doc pointed out something serious.

 _"Just as I thought! This proves my theory! Look at your brother!"_

 _"His head's gone! It's like he's been erased!"_

Toffee, who had been watching the film in a somewhat inattentive state since its beginning, immediately began to study what he was seeing on the screen. He realized that because Marty accidentally prevented his parents from meeting earlier in the film, his parents wouldn't fall in love, so Marty wouldn't have existed in 1985. A bright idea formed inside Toffee's head.

"Stop the movie," he announced, arousing the numerous minions around him, who were so interested by the film that they were in a trance. After a fifteen second wait, Ludo managed to press the stop button.

"Why are we stopping the movie?" asked Ludo. "We were just getting to the good part!"

"Your army can keep watching if they want. You and I are going to have a brief discussion about this movie." Toffee explained.

They both stood up and walked toward Ludo's desk. Ludo sat back in his chair while Toffee took the same seat he sat in during his initial interview days prior.

"Your minions have told me some rather interesting stories," Toffee claimed. "For some of them, working for you is like taking an insanity test every week."

"Insanity test?" Ludo chortled. "How do you think I feel? I've spent the last two months trying to steal a wand which may be forever out of my grasp!"

"That's why I'm here. I'm an evil efficiency expert, you see. Your plans aren't working, and you seek revenge on that princess for constantly crushing your hopes and dreams. Not to mention that all-important wand. So here's my latest idea, straight from "Doc Brown" himself: we're going to build a time machine."

"Time machine?" Ludo scoffed.

Toffee began to pace around the room. "It's a machine that allows you to go to the past, or to the future. You could go back in time and witness the Great Monster Massacre if you really wanted to. You could go to the future and see your future unravel if you really wanted to. But that's not our plan. Our plan is to come up with a new way to get that inter-dimensional princess' magic wand."

"How?"

"We are going to make ourselves theoretically unstoppable. In this war against her, we need all the help we can get."

"How will a simple machine make us _that_ powerful?"

Toffee poured himself a glass of West Mewnian Swamp Water as he explained his thesis. "It's no secret that Princess Butterfly defeats you. A lot. I have a solution for that. If we built a time machine, you could recover from your wounds, then to go back in time to the moment you were defeated, and catch her by surprise. No sooner will she beat you, you'll return. She'll eventually have no choice but to forfeit her wand to get the constant attacks to end."

"Sounds amazing! How long will it take to make one?" Ludo excitedly gasped.

"That, I don't know. I don't think anyone's actually built a working time machine yet," Toffee advised. "But we'll find out soon enough."

* * *

It was 7:00 P.M. in the Diaz household, which meant only one thing. It was movie night. Because of the fairly light homework rate, Star and Marco were able to watch a movie every single week. The best part about movie night was that it was on Thursday. To Star, movie night symbolized that the end of the weekday was near, and there only one day of school left before she could hang out and fight inter-dimensional monsters all day with Marco.

"Are you ready for tonight's movie?" Marco asked.

"Of course I am! Movies are amazing!" Star yelled as she pranced towards the living room.

"Unless they're bad." Marco added. "Watching a bad movie is like listening to royal lectures."

"Talk about it." Star groaned. "What are we watching tonight, Marco?"

Marco grinned in anticipation. "The movie is called... _Back to the Future_!"

" _Back to the Future?_ " Star asked. "What's it about?"

"It's one of my favorite favorite movies. It's about Marty McFly, a special DeLorean, and best of all, time travel."

Star gasped in wonder. "Ooh! Time travel! I'd love to do that!"

Marco sighed. "You've already managed to freeze time. I'm not sure how much longer it'll be before you'll try to travel through it."

"Probably not very long!" Star giggled.

"Then again, I'm not sure time travel's even possible. Even if it is, bad stuff might happen if you try." Marco cautioned as he followed Star into the living room.

But there was a more important question on Star's mind than the feasibility of time travel.

"Are we gonna get any food before the movie?" she asked curiously.

"Of course! Look what I made!" Marco shouted as he sat down next to Star on the couch. He was holding a plate of his famous nachos.

"Marco's Super Awesome Nachos!" Star sang as she reached for a chip and scarfed it down. She smiled as the fantastic taste of warm, gooey cheese and corn chips rocketed throughout her mouth. There was no other food that came even close to making her feel that good—aside from Mrs. Diaz's pancakes.

"Wow, Marco! They taste soooooo good!"

"Thanks, Star." Marco asserted. "My parents taught me how to make them. That's why they're Super Awesome!"

Star laughed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, if only I actually knew how to cook!"

"Yeah, but don't eat too much! We need to save some nachos for the—"

Marco looked towards the television. That was when he noticed that the DVD player was missing.

"Uh, Star? Where's the DVD player?"

Star shrugged her shoulders in confusion. "I don't know... usually, it's right there, under the TV."

"Well that's strange. We'll have to look for it." he advised.

"Yeah. Where should we search first?" Star inquired.

"Let's check my room." Marco suggested.

Star followed Marco up the stairs to help him search for the missing DVD player.

* * *

Over the past few hours, Toffee and Ludo's minions had begun work on building a time machine. It consisted a five foot tall rectangular cardboard box with a chair mounted inside of it. The box had one flap cut open that could function as a door. The interior had been retrofitted with a few switches to allow the user to select the time where they wanted to travel to. The switches were connected by wires to a large, rectangular stack of car batteries; it was the closest they could get to a flux capacitor. The time machine, by any standards, was crude, but would serve its purpose.

"Now, exactly how much power do we need for this box to work?" Ludo asked. "Are these batteries gonna cut it?"

"I believe the movie will give us the answer." Toffee grumbled as he pressed the rewind button on Ludo's remote. After holding it down for about 20 seconds, he released his finger from the button and let the movie play.

 _"Marty, I'm sorry, but the only power source capable of generating 1.21 gigawatts is a bolt of lightning."_ said Doc Brown on the TV.

Ludo grinned. "You hear that? All we need is a storm to come by, and we're all set!"

"Yes, but first, a nice lightning rod would suit this time machine well." Toffee admitted. "That way, we could channel the energy from the lightning into the batteries, so you could use the machine as long as some of the stored energy was present."

Luckily, Bearicorn took Toffee's recommendation as a request and promptly fixed a broken umbrella to the top of the time machine with adhesive tape, and attached the wires coming from the batteries to the metal shaft of the umbrella.

"The time machine is done!" Ludo screamed joyfully. "It's my dream come true! Now we can finally steal Star's wand!"

Toffee glared at Ludo. "I understand your excitement. I know you want to go and finish this, but there's a good reason why we shouldn't do that just yet."

"Why not?!" argued Ludo.

"We don't know if this time machine even works. Someone has to test it." Toffee pointed at Ludo. "Meaning you."

"Why do I have to test this thing? You and the others built it!" Ludo claimed. "Besides, it was your idea!"

"Well, yes, but you were the one who wanted it in the first place." Toffee corrected.

Ludo groaned. "Oh, fine."

"I suppose that we could have a toast," Toffee resumed. "For getting one step closer to eliminating Star Butterfly forever."

Toffee took his bottle of West Mewnian Swamp Water and generously poured himself a glass of it before handing the bottle to Ludo. Ludo tilted the bottle backwards and practically inhaled half of it out of exhilaration. A few gulps and several loud coughs later, he was finished.

"Wow. I can't believe how I'm feeling!" Ludo shouted.

Toffee glared across the room and saw Ludo's army pushing the time machine out of the castle inch by inch.

"Well that's new."

"Yeah, I've never seen them be that obedient before." admitted Ludo.

Toffee handed Ludo a piece of paper with some labelled drawings scribbled on it. "Before you leave, take this with you. It's the instructions for how the time machine works. Or more correctly, should work."

"I hope it does work." Ludo replied.

"Anyway, good luck on your trip." Toffee said while shaking Ludo's hand.

No sooner did the handshake end, Ludo bolted out of his castle as fast as he could. He quickly caught up with his minions, who were just outside the castle walls. They gathered around the time machine as he approached. The sky above them was darkening quickly, with clouds swirling around above the castle's tall spires.

"Get out of the way!" Ludo screamed as he sat down in the chair inside the machine.

"Uh, boss? Where ya going?" asked Three-Eyed Potato Baby.

Ludo laughed hysterically as he thought over what to say next. "Somewhere important. Before I go, take these dimensional scissors and cut open a portal to Earth."

"Why?"

"Just do it!" Ludo shouted.

Potato Baby didn't hesitate for a second. He ran behind the time machine and cut a dimensional portal behind the time machine before handing the scissors back to Ludo. The dark blackness of spacetime within the portal was visible to everyone who had a clear view of it.

"But you didn't answer his question!" Man Arm persisted. "Are we going to Earth so we can steal—"

"QUIT ASKING SO MANY QUESTIONS!" Ludo exploded. "I'm going to Earth to see if this time machine even works!"

"Wait, so we don't get to come along?" Spikeballs interjected.

"Of course you don't get to—er, you get to come along next time, Spikeballs. You and everybody else!" barked Ludo as he shut the door to the time machine.

"Hopefully this thing gets struck by lightning and I get propelled at 1.21 gigawatts," Ludo nervously thought as he turned the time dials in the manner shown on the instruction sheet.

* * *

Inside Ludo's castle, Toffee was looking outside at the approaching clouds as they got darker and thicker. The cloud cover was so thick, it was getting difficult to see anything. He could just barely make out the outline of Ludo's time machine, the dimensional portal behind it, and the minions gathered around it. All of a sudden, out of the great expanse of clouds came a bright flash. It was from a bolt of lightning. The light from the bolt illuminated the sky and the time machine with shades of incandescent yellow. The lightning rod on the time machine quickly channeled this raw energy of nature into the battery compartment within.

Then, as quickly as the flash had begun, it ended. The sky darkened once more and returned to its usual, dismal shade of purple with grey overtones. Then there was a sound of thunder. Toffee's eyes darted towards the group of minions that surrounded the time machine. They looked shocked beyond belief—all that remained after the lightning strike was a closing dimensional portal, and a black mark where the time machine once stood. Toffee couldn't believe his eyes. Their crude time machine had worked. Ludo had just become the first time traveler in the whole multiverse.

Toffee then turned his head to the right slightly and adjusted his gaze. Butterfly Castle came into view. The castle's towering height was noticeable, even though it was several miles away. Its multicolored domes and tall spires adorned with flags greatly contrasted the appearance of the monotonous, overcast sky. A sly grin washed over Toffee's normally emotionless face as he continued to gaze at the horizon. After a great pause, he mumbled to himself a simple phrase; a phrase that had been engrained in his mind on that same day fourteen long years ago.

 _"Alea iacta est."_


	2. The Butterfly Effect

The sound of the school bell resonated in Star's ears. The loud clanging of metal-on-metal jolted her awake from her state of half-slumber. Her last class of the day, English, had finally ended. She slowly and carefully stood up from her chair and made her way to the door before promptly walking out into the hallway. Marco was right behind her, and within seconds they were walking side by side on their way to their lockers.

"It's finally Friday!" Marco yelled while pumping his fist in the air repeatedly. "I thought I was going to die from boredom in there."

Star gave Marco a look of agreement before pointing down the hallway towards a girl on a skateboard. "Hey, look over there! It's Jackie Lynn Thomas!"

Marco gasped quietly in joy, as not to give away the identity of his crush to everyone in earshot. He couldn't help but smile as she whizzed by, with her platinum blonde hair and seashell necklace flapping around gently in the afternoon breeze.

"Hey, Jackie!" Marco shouted.

Jackie turned around and looked at Marco, her aqua blue eyes making contact with his.

"Hey, Marco." she said before skateboarding her way out of the school.

"Yes!" Marco whispered while blushing. "She talked to me for five days in a row! And twice today!"

Star laughed mockingly at him. "Well, I guess it counts. Even though, I don't think saying 'Hi' to someone really counts as _talking._ "

"Well, for someone who's a relationship expert, I haven't seen you and Oskar talking very much," Marco retorted. "Maybe you become so lovestruck from hearing the sound of his keytar that you can't get the courage to go up and talk to him."

Star smiled and blushed a little. "Well, we talk _occasionally_."

"Occasionally?" nagged Marco as he closed his locker and walked out of the building with Star.

"Most of the time he just says 'Hi' and keeps playing whatever _amazing_ song he's playing." Star cooed. "And then last week he—"

She was about to continue praising Oskar's "music talent", but then she heard a mysterious noise. It sounded like the noise a supersonic jet makes when it passes through the sound barrier. The noise sounded distant, but at the same time very close by.

"Marco, did you hear that?" she asked.

"Yeah." Marco replied.

They both looked into the sky, trying to find out what could have caused the noise. Yet as suddenly as the noise had happened, it faded into the distance and neither of them could figure out where it came from, or what caused it.

"Well Star, I think we need to get home and—"

Marco looked up into the sky once more, and what he saw shocked him. There were now small pieces of paper in the sky, and they were drifting down towards the ground. Several of the pieces fell down near the two friends. Other pieces were scattered in various places, such as the street, sidewalk, and the school lawn.

"This is really weird, don't you think, Marco?" Star questioned before picking up one of the paper pieces and handing it to Marco. He noticed that there was a single black line that ran across the paper piece that had been handed to him, but he was unable to figure out if the line had any significance.

"This is really weird," Marco noted. "At least to me, this looks like someone from another dimension did it."

"As in like, Ludo?" Star speculated.

"I don't know. As much of a danger Ludo is, he's more of an annoyance than a threat. Besides, his plans never change. He's never dropped paper from the sky before. Maybe this was caused by a yet unknown force of evil."

Star thought back to Monday, when she opened a fortune cookie that featured the ominous message " _A great evil has been unleashed"._ She and Marco laughed off the fortune, knowing from Ludo's fortune cookie scheme that said cookies aren't actually prophetic. But could the message have been foreshadowing what was going to happen? Could it have been more than just a quirky, dark joke?

"Of course, we can't rule out Ludo as the cause of this unless we dig deeper," Marco admitted. "Is there anyone you know who could help us figure this out?"

Star chewed on the base of her wand as she tried to come up with an answer.

"Well..."

* * *

"Calling Dad." announced Star's inter-dimensional mirror.

"So your dad is going to help us figure out what happened?" clarified Marco.

Star smirked. "He's the King of Mewni. I think he's seen his share of magical stuff."

A few seconds later, King Butterfly appeared on the screen. He adjusted his crown before speaking.

"Star! How are you doing today?"

Star grinned nervously. "Uh, great Dad, just great..."

"Marco's here too! You must have had quite a day!" he deduced.

Star giggled. "We did. As a matter of fact, that's why we're calling you."

"You called to tell me that you had an awesome Friday hunting down monsters with your best friend?"

Star shook her head from side-to-side and groaned. "No. We're calling you because weird stuff happened today. Like, weird and wild magical stuff."

"Magic?" King Butterfly implored. "Why are you asking me? Your mother was the last owner of that magic wand, after all."

"The magical stuff that happened today wasn't anything Star did," explained Marco. "It just happened, all by itself. Like it was caused by someone from another dimension."

"That's strange. Could you tell me what happened?"

Star's eyes widened and she walked closer to the mirror. "Marco and I were casually walking when suddenly, there was this sound like thunder, and paper fell from the sky!"

"That sounds extremely unusual." King Butterfly noted. "Now that you mention it... I saw something strange earlier today as well."

"What was it?" Star shouted impatiently.

"About fifteen minutes ago, I was looking out of the window in the throne room. Suddenly, I heard what sounded like thunder and saw a brown object tumbling through the air. It was falling so quickly that I couldn't figure out what it was. I lost track of the box after it flew over the Forest of Certain Death and faded into the distance."

The hearts on Star's cheeks temporarily transformed into lightbulbs. "Dad! I think we might be talking about the same thing!"

King Butterfly scratched his head. "You really think so?"

"Yeah, because we both heard thunder and then something weird happened." Star inferred.

"Star, I think there's more to your dad's story. Remember how he said that a box tumbled through the air, and went over the _Forest of Certain Death_?" Marco asked.

"Yep."

"Maybe Ludo could be behind this after all," reasoned Marco. "I mean, who else could reasonably be behind this? Especially since it happened on Earth and Mewni?"

"It has to be Ludo!" Star shouted in realization. "But doesn't he always use dimensional scissors?"

"You're right." Marco sighed solemnly. "And that still doesn't explain the whole paper thing."

King Butterfly asked. "Still, Ludo might be to blame. Do we have any evidence that points towards Ludo as the cause of these events?"

Marco placed all of the paper pieces on the ground. "We might. At first, these paper pieces didn't indicate anything except that something was amiss. Then I looked at one of them and saw that it had a line drawn on it. These pieces, if they were put back together, might tell us something. If only putting torn paper back together was easy."

"Marco, I have a magic wand," said Star. "I think I can handle it."

Marco shrugged his shoulders. "Star, I'm not sure if this is going to work."

Star looked at Marco straight in the eyes and smiled. "You never know unless you try." she insisted as she pointed her wand down at the paper pieces.

 _"Mending Heart Hurricane!"_

Instantaneously, a purple wave of energy and hearts shot out of the wand and bombarded the paper. The pieces were lofted into the air and began to spin rapidly. A second later, the pieces stopped spinning and reattached themselves perfectly, forming a symmetrical, rectangular sheet of white printer paper. Star grabbed the sheet while it was still suspended in air.

Star stuck her tongue out at her best friend in a teasing way. "Told you Marco!" she insisted.

"I wasn't sure if it would work!" he conceded.

"Trust me. Magic solves everything." the inter-dimensional princess teased as she shoved the paper into his face.

"So what does it say?" asked King Butterfly.

Star read the page's message aloud, so that her father could hear.

 **INSTRUCTIONS: Turn time circuits to proper time.** **Wait for the capacitor to work. Travel through time. Rinse and repeat** **.**

The whole room fell silent as looks of complete shock showed upon Star and Marco's faces.

"S-Star..." Marco stammered, "This might mean that..."

"Ludo has a... a time machine?!" Star yelled.

"It might." Marco clarified. "This isn't good at all."

"Time machine?" King Butterfly implored. "What's a 'time machine'? You sound very alarmed about the possibility of Ludo having one."

Marco grimaced before explaining. "That's because if Ludo has a time machine, he could go back into the past and change it however he wants! He could even erase people from existence!"

King Butterfly's usual expression of patience and officiality was replaced by a frozen, bewildered gaze. Never before had his regal flair been so abruptly and quickly shattered. He twirled his staff around in his hand nervously as he contemplated the mere possibility of being erased from existence.

"How can we stop him from doing that?" King Butterfly asked.

"We'll just have to stop him in his tracks!" Marco reasoned. "The problem is, how are we going to stop him if he has a time machine?"

"Marco. Remember when I used a spell to create a 60 hour Freeze Day?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know for sure, but maybe there's a time travel spell somewhere in the Magic Instruction Book. Glossaryck might know."

Marco folded his arms in disdain. "You've gotta be kidding!" he grumbled impatiently. "After all I went through with him before? Is he really that useful?"

Star put her arm around her best friend in an attempt to reason with him. "Come on, Marco! It's our only chance! I mean, how else could we time travel?"

"Well," he reconsidered, "there's really no other way. There's no such thing as a DeLorean time machine in 2015. I suppose I'll give it a chance."

"Yay!" Star yelled while jumping up and down in excitement. "Dad, we promise we'll get to the bottom of this! I'll call you back when we've got ourselves a way of going back in time!"

"Okay then. Goodbye!" King Butterfly boomed before leaving the mirror's line of sight.

The image on the mirror slowly faded away until the only thing Star and Marco could see in it was the reflection of themselves.

"What are we waiting for, Marco?" Star insisted. "Let's get to it!"

"All right, Star." Marco affirmed as he walked with her across the room towards where the Magic Instruction Book lay.

* * *

"What do you mean that the paper went missing?" Toffee muttered.

"I don't know what happened!" Ludo protested. "All of a sudden, while I was coming back to the castle, the time machine started coming apart in mid-air! There were holes in the floor and sides, and it was rattling and tumbling all over the place. The paper must have been fallen out or something!"

Toffee glared back at his boss in a manner analogous to a death stare. "Do you realize the immense gravity of the situation we're in? There could be pieces of that paper in six different generations. The whole multiverse could be aware of your journey. This whole plan of yours could be falling apart."

"True..." Ludo conceded. "Then again, if the paper pieces are in multiple generations, wouldn't that reduce the chances of anyone figuring out what happened?"

"Yes, well, I suppose it would." Toffee conceded.

"What if," Ludo supposed, "all the paper pieces ended up in the same time and place, and somehow Star Butterfingers managed to get her hands on them. What are the chances she'd be able to make her own time machine from those instructions?"

"Zero percent." Toffee dictated. "She isn't sophisticated enough to understand how to make a time machine, let alone the mechanism that drives that magical stick of death she totes around. Our plan is foolproof."

Ludo stood up and walked towards a window. "One last question. How long's it gonna take for us to get the time machine back up and running?"

"Since this first one's fit for the dumpster, we'll have to build a new one. Which will take between six to eight hours," Toffee estimated. "The good news is that we kept the battery compartment intact, so we won't need to recharge it before our next journey. This new time machine will be larger, faster, more reliable. That way the whole army can come along."

"That's amazing." Ludo sighed, imagining how sleek and shiny it would look when it would be completed. "I can almost feel Star's wand in between my hands!"

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to help these cronies of yours build a time machine." Toffee muttered before adjusting his tie and walking out of the room.

* * *

Marco flipped through the pages of the Magic Instruction Book until he saw a page flagged with a blue bookmark; it was the same page that Star had used to find the Freeze Day spell. Marco sighed while staring at the pages of the book, which were covered from top to bottom in spells. Some spells were written in an ancient Mewnian language, others were written in a language that resembled Latin, and others still were written in modern English.

"Looks like time spells have been a theme since the dawn of magic." Star inferred hastily. "At least from what I can tell, this one doesn't quite belong with the others. It's written in some language I've never seen before."

She pointed to a spell at the very bottom of the page, which read: _FBTZ QFBTZ UJNF FYQMPSFBTZ._

Marco knitted his eyebrows in confusion. "Uh, Star? I think that spell is written in some type of code. Like, as in, they didn't want anyone to find out about it and use it."

Star smiled and laughed. "Pfft. Relax, silly. I'm sure that Glossaryck will tell us all we need to know."

No sooner did Star call Glossaryck's name, he appeared.

"At your service, milady."

"Glossaryck. We found this spell in the Instruction Book that doesn't quite match the others. It's completely unreadable."

"Unreadable?" he inquired. "Nonsense. If the spell's written that way, then that's how you say it!"

"I don't think so." Marco grumbled impatiently. "Some of those words don't even have vowels in them. I'm pretty sure it's some sort of code. If we don't figure it out, the entire multiverse could be at risk. Maybe you could tell us what it means?"

Glossaryck slyly grinned at the teenager. "I usually don't make exceptions, but maybe we could work something out. Pudding. Get me some pudding."

Star sighed and opened her yellow, star-shaped purse, got out a cup of chocolate pudding and a spoon, and began to feed Glossaryck the entire contents of the container (making sure to _scrape the sides_ when she did so; otherwise he might have been upset).

"Okay Glossaryck, you got your pudding." Marco said. "Now tell us your secrets."

"That spell was discovered centuries ago," informed Glossaryck. "It is, as you thought, coded. Now if we unscramble it, here's what it says.

The coded "words" that made up the spell changed into actual English words. The spell now read: _EASY PEASY TIME EXPLOREASY_.

Star smiled wide and cheered. "Excellent! Now we can—wait, what does this spell do?"

"This spell allows the user to explore time, in theory." Glossaryck explained. "It's never actually been done before."

"How could it have been discovered, then?" asked Marco.

"This particular spell has a troubling history," elaborated Glossaryck. "It causes the wand to charge up its power, but the spell itself doesn't work. We'll never know for sure why it does that."

"How do you know that for sure?" Star implored curiously.

"It appears that it has to deal with energy. If a spell would use more than eighty percent of the wand's power, the spell would automatically cancel. It's a fail safe of some kind."

"Maybe you could tell us more?" Marco suggested.

"I was specifically told by the spell's discoverer not to let anyone know anything about it, no matter the circumstance." Glossaryck protested.

"Why can't you tell use more?" asked Star.

"Otherwise, spacetime as we know it could see its end. Look what I've done! Thanks to pudding bribery, I've told you everything! I may have just sealed the fate of the multiverse! The secret is out, but there's still hope. If we are to live another day, I must speak of this spell no longer. Until next time, milady."

Star's eyes widened and she reached her hand out towards him. "But Glossaryck—"

He did not listen to her plea and returned to his resting position, where he laid flat against the nearest page and waited for further instructions. Star and Marco sighed dismally and closed the Magic Instruction Book.

"Marco, how are we going to use this spell if we can't get enough energy?" Star groaned.

"Forget about that wand needing energy," Marco muttered back. "I need energy, or I might not survive the night."

As if on cue, Mrs. Diaz yelled up the stairs urgently.

"Star! Marco! Time for dinner!"

"Actually, I am rather hungry," Star admitted. "We're all sorta in need of more energy around here."

Marco's face suddenly lit up. "That's it!"

"What's it?" asked Star.

"The reason the spell doesn't work is because your wand can't generate 1.21 gigawatts of power!" explained Marco.

"1.21 gigawatts?" Star screamed. "1.21 gigawatts?! How much energy is that?"

"More energy than you could ever imagine. Energy has a lot to do with everything, including time travel. There's a way we could make that time travel spell work!" Marco excitedly concluded.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's complicated and bizarre." Marco said. "It involves making a car generate 1.21 gigawatts of electricity so that we can time travel!"

A wide grin formed on Star's face. "We're going back in time? In a car? THAT'S AWESOME!"

Marco couldn't help but smirk back at her as they quickly ran down the stairs to dinner.


	3. Diaz Minivan Time Machine

Marco pointed to a green minivan with brown striping that sat inside of the garage. "This is gonna be our time machine."

"The minivan?" Star implored. "Why are we going to make a time machine out of the minivan?"

Marco grinned unconfidently and chuckled. "The reinforced steel design will help the flux dispersal... or something like that."

"You don't want to use your mom's car?" Star asked while pointing towards a blue sedan parked near the minivan.

"Nope." Marco insisted. "I don't think she'd really like the idea of her car being turned into a time machine. The minivan's a little old, but it will do. If we start building it now, we might get done by Monday morning."

The inter-dimensional princess smirked mischievously. "Or, we could get it done instantly if we used magic."

Marco's face lightened up. "There's a spell for that?"

"There's a spell for everything, Marco." Star retorted. "Even making time machines."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Marco asked. "Let's get this show on the road!"

Star raised her wand and pointed it at the minivan.

 _"Sparkle Glitter Time Transform!"_

The spell hit the minivan, the vehicle instantly began to change. The dull, faded green paint on the exterior was restored to its original luster. The rectangular shape of the minivan deformed into a more streamlined, modern appearance. Best of all, vanity plates that read " **NTHR DMNS1** " replaced the standard California license plates that the vehicle previously had.

"This is amazing!" Marco yelled while smiling in glee. "I can't believe this actually worked!"

Marco opened the door and sat down in the driver's seat. "C'mon, Star! You can ride shotgun."

"Ooh! Shotgun!" Star exclaimed. "Wait, what's shotgun?"

"It means you get to ride in the front seat." Marco explained.

"So cool!" Star cheered to herself as she got in the front passenger seat and closed the door.

"Luckily, _Back to the Future_ has taught me a lot about time machines," Marco declared. "I'm not sure if it's good design or good fortune, but this time machine has some similarities with the one Doc Brown made in the movie."

"Neat!" Star giggled. "So... do we know how this thing even works?"

"I think so. You see that box behind us, Star?" Marco said, pointing to a rectangular metal container attached to the back seat. The lid had the outline of a wand and the phrase " **Magical Capacitor"** stamped onto it.

"Yeah."

"It looks like your wand goes inside of it."

Star turned around in the seat so she was facing the capacitor and pulled the lid open. The inside of the box was empty, except for a wand charger that was cemented firmly to the bottom. She firmly pressed her wand into the charger, and then closed the door before locking the two side latches to secure it shut. As she turned back around and buckled herself in, a bank of color-coded electronic displays in the center console caught her attention.

"Ooh, what are these things?" she asked, pointing to them.

"These are time circuits. In order for the time machine to work, we'll have to turn them on."

Marco reached for a lever near the time circuits and engaged it in the on position. The top display lit up and displayed the current date: **OCT 23 2015**

"The red one tells us where we're going. This green one tells us where we are. And this yellow one tells us where we were."

"So using the time circuits, we can go anywhere we want in time?" implored Star.

"We could. For example, we could go back to the time when you came to Earth."

Marco punched in some numbers on a numerical keypad that was near the time circuits. The date on the upper time circuit changed to: **AUG** **30 2015**

"Or we could go to the time when I met Pony Head!" Star exclaimed, frantically typing in numbers that caused the destination date to change to **FEB 28 2003**

Star looked at the time circuits in confusion. "That's strange... the date's all messed up."

"What do you mean?" Marco asked, who also became confused.

"I met Pony Head on Cyrinean 5th, not February 28th."

Marco knitted his eyebrows. "Cyrinean? What's that?"

"On Mewni, we use a different calendar than Earth," Star explained. "Maybe that's why the time circuits are all messed up."

"I guess. If there's something we could use to change the—"

The dates on the top time circuit suddenly changed to **CYR 05 2003**.

"Found it." Star said as she pulled her hand away from a switch near the time circuits. "Here we are, on yet another adventure! Of course, it's an adventure to stop Ludo, but it's still an adventure. So where are we going?"

Marco sighed dismally. "That's the thing about time travel. He could be anywhere in the past, or the future for all we know. More likely than not, he's in the past right now, screwing up time so he can get his claws your wand."

Star scrunched her eyebrows and looked at Marco in confusion. "Why wouldn't Ludo just steal my wand from me in the past, when I was on Mewni? That seems a lot easier than all of this time manipulation stuff."

"As silly as Ludo is, there's a reason behind everything he does. Maybe he hasn't taken the most obvious route because he knows we'd be waiting for him. Or maybe there could be bigger brains at work here." Marco suggested.

"So, like, someone else could be helping Ludo out?" Star inferred.

"It would explain why he has a time machine, along with the whole 'screwing up time' scheme." Marco reasoned. "Ludo couldn't have come up with this plan all by himself. Someone else has to be telling him how to play the cards."

"With help from someone smarter, Ludo could be anywhere..." Star groaned. "How can we figure out the right place and time?"

"Maybe we need to look at this differently." Marco suggested.

"Differently? Like, how differently?" asked Star.

"We need to figure out _why_ he's using a time machine in the first place." determined Marco.

"Well, Ludo's weak and stupid and we always beat him," Star retorted. "So he's gonna go back in time and steal my wand so he can take over the multiverse."

Marco chuckled a little. "But even without my help, you still manage to beat him pretty easily because of your wand. That can't be it."

"If it's not us, then what is it?" Star wondered.

"Well, Ludo might just be sick and tired of trying to steal the wand from you." Marco reasoned. "If he can't steal the wand from you, he might be trying to steal the wand from someone else who is more vulnerable."

"Someone else? More vulnerable?" questioned the inter-dimensional princess. "Like who would he try stealing the wand from?"

"Someone else in your family who previously had the wand." shuddered Marco. "Most likely, Ludo would attack your mom when she had the wand."

"My mom? Why her?" asked Star.

Marco looked at Star with a serious look on his face. "Do you ever remember your mom talking to you about monster fighting?"

"Never. As for my dad, that's another story. He's been fighting monsters from the time he was old enough to walk."

"Well that explains everything," Marco inferred. "If Ludo stole the wand before you ever had it, he wouldn't have to keep attacking us to try and get it. Even worse, we would have never met because if you didn't need to be trained in how to use a wand, you would still be living on Mewni. A Ludo-controlled Mewni."

"That's awful..." Star solemnly sighed, her hands slowly turning into fists. "I couldn't imagine _not_ coming to Earth, let alone never having a wand and living in a world controlled by Ludo!"

"That's why we're gonna stop him." Marco reiterated. "So we can save the future and keep him from ever doing this again."

"If Ludo was going to steal my wand..." Star began, "...er, my wand when it was my mom's wand, when would he do it?"

"Well, he tried to steal your wand from you on the day you got it." Marco noted. "Even the prospect of having to go to Earth to find it didn't stop him."

"So we should go back in time to my mom's fourteenth birthday, and stop Ludo before he has a chance to attack?" Star asked.

"Yeah. Even if Ludo's not there, it'll be a good starting point," Marco added.

Star reached across the center console and placed her hand over the keypad. "My mom's fourteenth birthday was on Grobnock 11th, 1985."

After typing in a set of digits, the date on the top time circuit changed to: **GRO 11 1985**.

"Wait, how do you know when your parent's birthdays are?" Marco wondered.

"They're my parents, duh!" Star giggled as her expression lightened up. "You gotta know when their birthdays are! Don't you know your parents' birthdays?"

Marco grinned sheepishly. "No, not particularly."

"Come on, Marco!" sneered the inter-dimensional princess. "Don't you want your parents to have fun birthdays?"

"Of course I do!" Marco insisted. "Birthdays are the bomb!"

Star beamed with excitement simply thinking about birthdays. "I know, right? You get treated so nicely, and your friends hang out with you, and you get presents, and cake, and other awesome stuff!"

"Well, thanks to Ludo, your mom might not have a happy fourteenth birthday if we don't get going soon. But there's one more thing we've got to do, first."

"What is it?" asked Star.

"We've got to open a dimensional portal to Mewni. You brought your dimensional scissors, didn't you?"

Star reached into her purse and pulled out a pair of scissors with red handles that came together in the shape of a heart. "Of course! I don't leave home without 'em!"

"All right. Now cut open a portal right in front of us." Marco said.

She opened the door and quickly ran out in front of the minivan. "Right here?"

"Yep. Once we drive through the portal and end up on Mewni, we can get ready to time travel."

Star cut open a dimensional portal and returned to her seat in the time machine.

"I'm so excited!" Star gasped.

"I am too." Marco added while inserting the keys into the ignition. "Now let's see how the minivan handles this inter-dimensional journey."

He turned the keys, causing the time machine to start up its engine. The instrument panel lit up and the gauges calibrated to their neutral position. Once everything was set, Marco pressed his foot down on the brake and shifted into drive. Just barely pressing the gas pedal down with his foot, he carefully maneuvered the time machine through the dimensional portal. No sooner had the time machine finished entering it, the portal closed and disappeared from sight.

* * *

Within seconds, they arrived in Mewni. The night sky was pitch dark, but the planet's twin moons and the millions of stars in the sky shone down through the sunroof. But despite this, nothing at all could be seen through the windshield.

"I can't see a thing." Marco whispered. "I need to turn on the headlights."

"Why's that, Marco?" asked Star. "You need to figure out if you're driving the minivan straight?"

"That, and to see if there's something remotely like a road here on Mewni." he replied.

Marco parked the time machine and turned on the headlights, excepting to see the lay of the land in front of him. But all he saw were stalks of some kind of yellow-colored vegetable attached to green stalks.

"Well Marco," Star giggled, "it looks like you were driving straight, all right. You drove straight into a corn field!"

"At least there's flat ground underneath all this corn." Marco sighed. "In a few minutes, we'll be out of this field and off to 1985."

"Wait up, Marco." interjected the inter-dimensional princess. "There's one thing I want to do before we leave."

"What's that?" Marco implored.

"Get out your phone!" Star yelled. "We need to take selfies!"

"Why?" Marco wondered.

She grinned wide in excitement. "So that when we get back, we can tell people about our time travels! We could tell your parents, and our friends, and—"

"We don't want _anyone_ to find out about this!" Marco interrupted.

Star rolled her eyes. "Why not? Time travel's not such a big deal!"

"If our friends find out about what happened, then my parents will eventually find out too. If my parents find out, then they'll probably tell your parents. And if my parents tell your parents that we made a time machine out of a minivan and then went on a reckless joyride in the past, they might send you to—"

"ST. OGLA'S REFORM SCHOOL FOR WAYWARD PRINCESSES!" Star squealed, throwing her arms into the air out of fright. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

For Marco, there was nothing worse than when Star was scared. Normally, she wasn't afraid of anything. Neither monsters, nor school assignments, nor Ludo himself would scare her under normal circumstances. When Star was scared, whatever she was scared of was seriously frightening, upsetting, or both. Marco reached his arms out and placed them on his best friend's shoulders, trying to calm her down the best he could.

"Star, it'll be all right..." Marco reassured quietly, placing his hands back on the steering wheel.

"I hope so..." Star shuddered fearfully. "Now that you mention it... remember how we told my dad that we'd tell him once we made a time machine?"

"Of course. I was there, Star."

"We should look for an inter-dimensional mirror in 1985." Star reasoned. "My dad says that they work across time and space. Then we could tell him that we'll be able to stop Ludo."

Marco reached his arms out towards her. "But Star, wouldn't your mom object to—"

The inter-dimensional princess sneered sarcastically. "Pfft! Marco, I have mother issues. And besides, if my dad's on board with this whole thing, then she'll be fine with it. I hope."

"You really think so?" asked Marco.

"I'm sure of it. My parents get along _most_ of the time." Star explained. "But could we take one selfie? Just for us?"

"Just for us? So I can use it as my phone's background?" asked Marco.

"Sure." Star agreed.

Marco shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see why not. After all, we are best friends."

"Awesome! Thanks, Marco!" beamed Star happily.

Marco took his phone out of his pocket and raised it into the air so that they were both in the picture frame.

"Say, 'Cheese'!" Star said teasingly.

The two friends smiled as Marco took the selfie. Afterwards, he set the picture as his wallpaper photo and placed his phone back in his pocket.

"Now we're ready."

Marco shifted the time machine into drive and turned left out of the cornfield. Once he could no longer see corn stalks in front of him, he ended the turn and began to drive forwards slowly.

"So Marco, how is the time machine gonna get us to 1985?" Star questioned.

Marco focused on the view ahead of him as he told Star everything. "Once this thing reaches eighty-eight miles per hour, you're gonna cast the time travel spell. The time machine will then generate 1.21 gigawatts of electricity, and we're gonna end up in 1985. And you're gonna see some serious stuff."

For as far as the eye could see, there were nothing but cornfields left and right of where the time machine was, but directly ahead of it was a straight, narrow path. It was just wide enough for the time machine to drive on.

"Cooooool!" gasped Star in awe. "I can't wait!"

"Me neither," added the karateka. "Here goes!"

Marco pressed his foot down forcefully on the gas pedal, causing the front wheels to start spinning rapidly. A second or two later, the back wheels got traction and the time machine began to accelerate. Both teenagers were tossed around in their seats as the time machine rattled down the narrow path between the cornfields.

"M-Marco, this is pretty rough!" stammered Star. "What is this called?"

"Off-roading." Marco replied nervously while at the speedometer intently, hoping the time machine would reach the required speed soon so he wouldn't have to endure the constant shaking.

Star raised her hands into the air out of exhilaration. "Well then, I love off-roading!"

About fifteen seconds later, Marco began reading the speed indications off the speedometer.

"Sixty-five." Marco muttered through gritted teeth.

"This is amazing!" noted the inter-dimensional princess.

"Seventy."

"Woohoo! This feels incredible!"

"Eighty-eight!" Marco interjected. "All right, Star! It's time for the spell!"

Star raised her hand as if she holding the wand, and cast the spell.

 _"Easy Peasy Time Exploreasy!"_

As soon as the spell was cast, a purple ball of plasma formed in front of the time machine, and quickly snowballed in size each second. Purple and blue light flashed throughout the interior cabin, accompanied by the sound of electrical arcing.

Marco gripped the steering wheel tightly. "Hang on Star! We're almost there!"

Before he could say another word, the time machine disappeared from sight in a large explosion of dust, butterflies, and hearts. Long, rectangular trails of fire rocketed out from the explosion cloud and caught the grass below on fire. Inside the time machine, however, it was a much smoother ride. Star and Marco could only see blue sparks flying past the windshield. A few seconds later, the view through the windshield became sharper and less obscured as the sparks cleared. Outside, it was now as bright as day—and the cornfield that once stood on both sides of the time machine had vanished entirely.

"Where are we?" Star wondered.

Marco stared out of the windshield. The fields that were on either side of the time machine now were barren and devoid of any sort of agricultural development.

"I think we're in 1985, Star." Marco deduced.

"So that means that the time machine worked!" Star yelled joyfully. "Hooray for magic!"

"Uh, Star? We're not quite out of the woods yet," Marco cautioned as the time machine rolled to a gentle stop. "We still have to find an inter-dimensional mirror, and Ludo. Where do you think we should start the search?"

She removed her wand from the Magical Capacitor and scratched her head. "Maybe there's a town nearby that has one we can use."

Marco removed the keys from the ignition and got out of the minivan with Star.

* * *

Meanwhile, in 2015, Ludo's new time machine has just finished its first test run. The time machine had landed in the center of a Mewnian cornfield, not unlike the one Star and Marco had ended up in before their journey to the past. Ludo opened the door and breathed the fresh air before letting his minions and Toffee exit.

"All right!" Ludo barked. "We're here!"

"What is this place?" asked Buff Frog as he walked out into the cornfield.

"We're in the past!" replied the kappa monster. "A minute in the past, but it's still the past!"

"Hmm. Looks like the time machine is fully operational." observed Toffee. "Now as soon as we can—"

"Boss! Look over there!" interrupted Bearicorn. "This field is on fire!"

Ludo turned his head and glared directly to where he was pointing. On the ground between the cornfields, there were several small fires burning, but weren't growing in intensity and looked like the fires would burn themselves out.

"What's so important about small fires in a cornfield?" asked Ludo curiously.

"Absolutely nothing." Toffee grumbled impatiently. "But fires are rather uncommon, particularly in agricultural areas such as these. We should check it out."

Ludo didn't have to walk far to reach the fires. After a short, thirty second journey, he had reached the flames. Toffee followed closely behind, noting observations about the fires.

"Don't you find it weird that these fires are burning in _straight lines_?" questioned Ludo.

"Quite."

Ludo continued to pan the area suspiciously, searching for any other clues as to what may have caused the blazes. He didn't have to look very far to find some. A few yards away, in between the smoldering flames, lay a license plate. Toffee approached and rolled back the sleeves of his suit coat before picking it up. As soon as his fingers made contact with the it, Toffee dropped the plate back down on the ground and winced in pain.

"Is it hot?" Ludo wondered.

Toffee grabbed his right hand with his left. "No. Actually, it's cold. The coldest thing I've ever touched."

Not fazed a bit by Toffee's observation, Ludo took both of his hands and grabbed the license plate outright. Simply holding the aluminum plate made Ludo feel like his hands were being submerged in liquid nitrogen. However within seconds the plate warmed to his touch. After clearing frost off of the front of the plate, Ludo noticed that there was a message stamped on it.

" **NTHR DMNS1**? Sounds like 'another dimension'." Ludo deduced. "Wait a minute... another dimension?!"

"You think this plate came from another dimension?" Toffee implored.

"Of course it did!" he argued. "It says it right on it! And remember what happened in that movie we saw? When the time machine went into the past, it left its license plate behind on the ground!"

Toffee couldn't believe his luck. "So you're suggesting—"

"I'm not suggesting anything!" Ludo interjected. "I'm saying what's real. And I know for a fact now that..." He paused for dramatic effect, then screamed angrily.

"STAR BUTTERFLY BUILT HERSELF A TIME MACHINE!"

"Well, she is a magical princess, after all." justified Toffee. "She must have used her magic wand to make her and her companion travel through time."

Ludo glared at Toffee with a look of rage plastered upon his face. "Well, what are we waiting for?! LET'S GO INTO THE PAST AND ATTACK—"

"Not so fast." interrupted Toffee, cutting Ludo's rant short. "This new development calls for a change of plans. Going into the past and attacking Princess Butterfly is no longer viable. Now that she has a time machine, she could go into the past and defeat us before we could strike back against her."

"What do you suggest we do, then?!" Ludo furiously sneered.

"Rally up your cronies. We're going back to the Mewnian glory days. Back before this whole 'magic wand' debacle even existed. Back when the wand was utilized by a less potent member of the Butterfly family."

"Who?" inquired Ludo.

"Princess Butterfly's mother—the last owner of that magic wand." Toffee elaborated.

Ludo's anger suddenly faded. "Great idea! Why didn't I think of that myself?" he wondered.

"Maybe because I'm the _evil efficiency expert_." bragged Toffee. "Let's get this plan in action."

While Ludo and his minions trudged back towards the time machine, Toffee stayed put, and looked upwards into the night sky. Butterfly Castle was far closer now, and because Toffee was closer to the castle, he could pick out finer details about it that he perviously could not see. At the base of the castle sat a populous village where tens of thousands of people lived. Above that rested some small fortified castles, where battalions of royal guards were training. Highest of all were numerous towers, which stretched for hundreds of feet into the air and supported atop them massive technicolor domes adorned with various insignias. It was simply breathtaking to look at the castle, but Toffee prevented his emotions from breaking his composure. Instead, he only uttered a simple phrase; a phrase that he said once daily since the day that Ludo had hired him.

 _"Quod familia delenda est."_


	4. Nineteen Eighty-Five

Star pointed downhill towards a village in the distance.

"There it is, Marco. Our first spot to search for an inter-dimensional mirror."

Marco shrugged his shoulders in uncertainty. "What do you think are the chances we'll actually _find_ a mirror in this place?"

"Uh, I don't know." Star answered, looking back at her best friend hesitantly. "If we can find someone here that isn't dirt poor, they might have a mirror. Or be able to lead us to one."

"Do common Mewmans even know that inter-dimensional mirrors exist?" asked Marco.

Star sneered and smiled sarcastically. "Of course they do, Marco! You could go up to any Mewman and ask them about something magical, and they'll know what you're talking about!"

"Well just because people know about something doesn't mean they happen to know where it is." Marco noted.

"True..." conceded Star as she chewed on the end of her wand a little. "Then again, we'll never know if there's an inter-dimensional mirror in that village unless we try to find one."

"If you're ready to start looking, then let's go." suggested Marco.

Star and Marco walked down the rolling Mewnian hills and approached the village. About fifty feet away from the entrance, a sign read: **WELCOME TO ACCRINGTON**.

"This place doesn't look so bad after all." Marco thought as he entered the village with Star and began to take in the sights around him.

The first thing that Marco noticed about Accrington was its size. Back when Star took him and his parents to Mewni, they had also visited a village. Compared to the village they had seen in 2015, Accrington did not suffer from the state of squalor that the former possessed, and was far less crowded. Nevertheless, brick houses lined the narrow, peasant-filled, crowded streets.

As Star and Marco reached the center of town, they noticed there were numerous men on the sides of the road, trying to entice passersby into buying whatever products they had at the ready. One man wore a pocketed trenchcoat, with a clock stuffed into each pocket. Another man was holding several pieces of paper in his hands, and was waving them around in the wind. Still another man sat astride the road, his hands wrapped around a cardboard box filled with calzones.

Marco's eyes widened upon seeing the man. "Star, remember how you told me that here on Mewni, there are magical calzones that will tell you how you'll die?" he asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" replied Star.

"Is that a calzone vendor over there?" inquired Marco, who pointed towards the man in question.

"I think so." Star deduced. "Why do you ask? Do you want to buy one?"

"No way." adamantly declared Marco, who waved one of his arms in discontent. "That's creepy. I find it weird that anyone would want to know how they're gonna die."

Star spun her wand in circles and looked off into the distance. "Well here on Mewni, some people want to know how they're gonna go. Luckily, I'm not one of those people."

"Neither am I." said Marco huskily. "But there's something I'd like to know about those calzones."

"What is it?" asked Star curiously.

"How hard is it for the average Mewman to get one of them?" Marco questioned.

"Pretty hard." explained Star. "Calzones like that are really expensive."

"Do you think that guy might be selling other expensive things?" asked Marco. "As in like, an inter-dimensional mirror?"

Star shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, he might."

"Well then why are we sitting here doing nothing?!" questioned Marco. "Let's go ask him!"

Marco guided Star down the street towards the calzone vendor, who was looking down at the ground. Both of the teenagers could tell by the look on his face that he probably hadn't managed to sell a single calzone since he'd set up shop.

"Psst!" Star whispered. "Could we ask you something?"

The man looked up at Star, and immediately his gaze shifted to her wand. The bright Mewnian sunshine reflected off of the golden star in the center of the wand, and back into his face. The man stood up and cheered raucously.

"Is it really you? It can't be!" screamed the man joyfully.

"Wait up." Star interrupted. "What are you talking about?"

The man wrapped his right arm around her and pulled her closer. "You're Moon Butterfly! The Princess of Mewni!"

Star immediately froze in surprise. She certainly hadn't expected anyone to "recognize" her in 1985, let alone misidentify her as her mother. Knowing that revealing that she was from the future would have been no use, Star decided to play along, hoping the man wouldn't realize the charade of lies she was about to throw at him.

"Uh, yeah! It's me! Moon Butterfly!" she said unconfidently while giving a thumbs-up with her left hand.

The calzone vendor bowed in respect. "Your Royal Highness! Why are you here, in this humble village?"

Marco tapped Star on the shoulder. "Star? What are you doing?!" he whispered frightfully. "We need to find a—"

"Shh!" interjected Star. "I can handle this."

"Villager, I am here today to find a missing royal heirloom," declared Star, attempting to imitate the sound of her mom's voice. "It looks like a mirror with gems on it. It's very important to the royal family. If you have seen—"

"You mean this?" asked the vendor as he reached into his calzone box and pulled out a moderately sized mirror with precious gems lining the corners and edges. Some dirt had gotten on the surface of the mirror, but otherwise it was undamaged.

"Yes!" boomed Star in her faux royal tone. "This is exactly what I've been looking for!"

"Wait, where'd you even find this thing?" wondered Marco.

"A week or so ago, a royal guard post near here got looted by a mob of monsters," explained the vendor. "But they were clumsy and dropped some things as they made their way back to the forest. I found this mirror lying on the ground and thought, 'Hey! Might as well take it!"

"Well, it's a good thing the Princess and I came here when we did." admitted Marco, who by now was also playing along with Star's "posh and proper princess" façade. "Otherwise, we may have never found it."

"It's my pleasure to be of service to you," said the vendor to Marco. "So... uh, what is your relation to the princess?"

Star turned to Marco and smiled. "This is Marco, my best friend. Him and I always go on adventures together."

The calzone vendor bowed once more. "Well then, it is my pleasure to have served you, Your Royal Highness and Sir Marco."

Marco nervously shuffled his feet and looked down at the floor. "But I'm not a—"

"Thanks for everything!" yelled Star as she started walking away from the calzone vendor. She then beckoned for Marco to follow her. He didn't hesitate for a moment and hurriedly made his way towards her and walked side-by-side with her. They didn't stop until they reached an empty section of road near the edge of the village.

Marco sighed in relief. "Well that was a close. But at least we've got a mirror!"

"You could say that again." remarked Star as she brushed some of the dirt off of the face of the mirror.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" asked Marco.

"Of course it will!" answered Star. "I hope."

After turning the mirror on and calibrating its settings, Star began the fateful call.

"Call Dad."

"Calling Dad." responded the inter-dimensional mirror, which began to send its fateful transmission across the fabric of spacetime.

* * *

Deep within the confines of Butterfly Castle sat a room that was different from all the others. Normally, its doors remained shut and locked to any human presence. Like many things in the Kingdom of Mewni, the purpose of the room was intentionally kept secret. Only King and Queen Butterfly knew what the room was for. The room was designed for meetings between royal staff and themselves in times of war or when something urgent had to be discussed. Today, the room was being used for the first time since the War of Mewnipendence. King and Queen Butterfly took their seats at a table positioned in the center of the room. The royal couple was seated across from Manfred and Karl, two of their numerous royal servants.

King Butterfly brought the meeting to order with a short, expository speech. "Gentlemen. I am bringing this meeting to order to talk about a new threat that our kingdom faces. This threat is not a physical threat, nor a magical one. This threat comes from within the confines of time and space themselves."

"Your Royal Highness." said Karl. "I believe that the royal guard is perfectly capable of defending you from any threats that this kingdom faces."

King Butterfly knitted his eyebrows and turned in his chair to face Karl. "You do not seem to comprehend this new threat we are facing. The threat comes a device known as a 'time machine'."

"Time machine?" asked Queen Butterfly, now intrigued. "What is a time machine?"

"It's a machine that can change history as we know it." explained the king. "Right now, there is a time machine in the hands of Ludo's army. At any moment, Ludo and his minions could go back in time and change the progression of events however they choose."

"So for example, they could go back in time and stop the Great Monster Massacre?" asked Manfred.

"Exactly." replied King Butterfly. "But I have a feeling Ludo would do more sinister things than that, like prevent the creation of this kingdom altogether."

Queen Butterfly's mouth widened in surprise. "You can't be suggesting that Ludo owns a device that could potentially wipe out this whole kingdom before it ever existed, could you?"

"Sadly, yes." replied King Butterfly solemnly.

"Do we know how Ludo built it?" asked Queen Butterfly.

"No."

"How are we going to stop Ludo if he could wipe us out before we ever could?" asked Queen Butterfly.

Suddenly, the inter-dimensional mirror on the wall started to ring.

"Call from Star." it announced.

"Why would Star be calling us right now?" asked Queen Butterfly. "Don't tell me she turned someone else into a troll!"

"I think Marco's helped Star learn how to use her wand more _usefully_." replied King Butterfly. "I don't think she'd do something like that again."

Queen Butterfly folded her arms in ambivalence. "Well, we won't find out for sure until we answer the call."

She pressed a button on the side of the mirror, and an image of Star and Marco came into view.

"Hey, Dad!" yelled Star as she waved her arms in the air. "Am I glad to—"

She stopped mid-sentence, noticing that there were now several people standing in front of the mirror, including her mom.

"Oh, hey Mom! And Manfred! And everyone!" chattered Star nervously. "How's it going?"

"Less than swimmingly, my dear." replied Queen Butterfly. "Your father just informed me about how Ludo has a time machine. Right now, we're trying to figure out how we're going stop him."

Star grinned mischievously and giggled a little. "Well Mom, you see... Marco and I have found a way we can stop Ludo."

"Well go ahead and tell me," demanded Queen Butterfly. "I'm curious."

Star took a deep breath before explaining everything. She talked about the paper pieces that fell from the sky when her and Marco were at the bus stop, the conversation she and Marco had with King Butterfly later that same day, and how Marco and her had found the time travel spell in the Magic Instruction Book and made a time machine out of a minivan.

"...And right now, we're in 1985." admitted Star sheepishly.

Queen Butterfly gasped. "You're in the past right now?"

"Y-Yes, we are." shuddered the inter-dimensional princess frightfully. "Please don't be mad!"

Queen Butterfly smiled slightly. "Don't worry. I'm not mad."

"You're not?" asked Star curiously.

"No. If you have a time machine, that's actually terrific news. It means you're in perfect shape to foil Ludo's plot."

"Of course." said Marco, who bowed in respect to the mirror. "Star and I won't stop until we see Ludo back in 2015, Your Majesty."

"Marco, you don't need to bow to me." laughed Queen Butterfly. "I know full well that you're Star's new best friend. My husband has told me several tales about your very strong friendship with Star."

Marco cheered happily. "That's great. I just wanted to make sure you were okay with Star and I using the time machine to find Ludo."

"I am perfectly content with that." replied Queen Butterfly.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Star. "When we find out more about Ludo and what's going on with him, we'll give you a call."

"Fantastic." stated Queen Butterfly.

"Okay! Bye!" excitedly chattered Star as the image of her and Marco slowly faded away.

After a brief pause, everyone returned to their seats. Queen Butterfly clasped her hands together and felt uncertainty course through her.

"River, do you think we made the right decision?" she asked curiously.

Her husband drew closer and re-assured her. "Darling, I'm sure that Star and Marco will be fine. They work well together, so it's only a matter of time before they'll find Ludo and put an end to his tomfoolery."


	5. The Knapping

Toffee glanced down at his silver-plated watch, which he wore on his right wrist.

"It's ten fifty-seven. Princess Butterfly should be exiting the castle any minute now."

"You really think so?" asked Ludo.

"Mewnian royal ceremonies end at around eleven in the morning." replied Toffee. "If all they're doing is giving her the magic wand, there should be no reason it should take any longer."

"Great!" exclaimed the kappa monster. "That means within minutes I'll finally have the wand!"

"Perhaps." corrected Toffee.

"You might be on to something." remarked Ludo worryingly. "We don't know how much of a fight Moon will put up. How can we be sure we'll be able to steal it?"

Toffee folded his arms and looked off into the distance towards the castle. "Moon Butterfly doesn't fight monsters for fun. She's very reserved, patient, and to a certain extent, pacifistic. She only retaliates in self-defense. She would never expect our attack."

"How do you know that for sure? wondered Ludo.

"That is a story for another time." dictated Toffee bitterly. "What matters right now is whether that wand ends up in our hands. Whether we get it or not depends on how we're going to go about stealing it."

"What do you think we're gonna do?" chortled Ludo sarcastically. "We're gonna attack her!"

Toffee frowned. "So like always, you're going to send a cavalry charge of minions to surround her while you go for the wand?"

"Of course!" exclaimed Ludo excitedly.

"Not the finest strategy, but it will do." muttered Toffee. "Per usual, I'll stand from afar and observe the fight."

At that moment, the trap had been set. All that the monsters would have to do was wait for Moon to spring the trap into motion.

* * *

Star and Marco had ventured out from the village of Accrington and were now walking down a path that led to Butterfly Castle. The very edges of the path were lined with people who were waiting to catch glimpses of Princess Moon Butterfly as she would venture out from the castle toting around her recently acquired royal magic wand. Some of these people were very excited because they were about to see her for the first time ever. As they drew within a few hundred feet of the castle's entrance, the density of the crowd grew considerably, making it very difficult for them to get closer.

"Wow." whispered Marco. "Just look at all the people here. There might be hundreds of people here, maybe even thousands. I never knew that so many people attended royal ceremonies!"

Star nudged Marco with her elbow. "Everyone on Mewni goes to see the royal family and stuff when they have the chance!"

"I bet." admitted Marco. "And considering that Ludo's latest plot is stealing your wand in the past, him and all of his minions are probably watching too, waiting for the perfect moment to strike."

"Sounds like classic old Ludo." replied Star. "I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case."

"Star, we're gonna have to help her out however we can." insisted Marco worryingly. "I'm not sure your mom is a huge fan of fighting monsters."

"Don't worry, Marco." reassured Star calmly. "We've defeated Ludo countless times before. I don't think it'll be too hard to beat him this time."

Marco sighed doubtfully. "You never know what Ludo might have up his sleeve. If he built a time machine, he might have a few extra tricks waiting for us."

"Oh, I don't know." supposed Star. "We won't know what Ludo's up to until he makes his grand entrance."

As if on cue, the crowd suddenly started cheering and clapping. Star and Marco looked straight ahead towards the castle's entrance. There, they saw a teenage girl walking down the path away from the castle. She wore a golden tiara upon her head and wore a traditional Mewnian dress identical to the one Star wore when she received her wand. As she walked further down the path and drew closer towards them, the crowd's cheering and clapping intensified. Star could tell by the sound of the crowd who it was.

"Marco!" whispered Star nervously. "It's my mom!"

As Moon passed by Star and Marco, she glanced at briefly at them and smiled. To Star, it felt highly unusual to see her do such a thing. For as long as she could remember, she had almost never seen her mom smile. Not at her birthday celebrations, not when she received the wand, and not even when she called to tell her that Marco and her were in the past and going to stop Ludo's time machine plot.

"I wish I would've known her before she became the way she is now." sighed Star.

"Yeah. She looks so... different." noted Marco. "I've never seen her look like this before."

Suddenly, from near the end of the path, there was the sound of rustling branches. The two teenagers turned around and saw Moon was standing next to a shrub, startled and frozen in fear.

"There she is! GET THE WAND!" yelled a voice from within the vegetation.

A few of Ludo's minions lunged out and wrapped their arms around Moon, dragging her down to the ground and tugging her forcefully away from the path.

"No! Let me go!" she yelled frightfully.

"I guess Ludo's decided to drop in." said Star in a concerned tone of voice. "Let's go, Marco!"

The two teenagers ran at full speed towards where the monsters were.

* * *

Three-Eyed Potato Baby, Buff Frog, and Bearicorn held Moon down, trying to forcibly snatch her wand from her. She was punching and kicking and squirming around, trying to break free, but the monsters' grasp was too great for her to best. Ludo slowly drew closer and outstretched his arms, motioning for her to let up her grip on the magic wand.

"Give me the wand!" demanded Ludo.

"N-No!" protested Moon. "I can't let anyone have this! I can't let it fall into the wrong hands!"

"I don't care!" cried the kappa monster. "Give it to me or else!"

Suddenly, a tremendous shout rang out from behind the monsters.

"Not so fast, Ludo!"

Ludo, startled by the sudden noise, turned around. He saw Star and Marco standing over him, looking at the scene.

"Well, well! If it isn't Star Butterfly and Karate Boy!" sneered Ludo brazenly. "How nice of you to show up!"

Star waved her wand around in the air menacingly. "You'll never get away with this! I know about your entire plan!"

"Oh, really?!" scoffed Ludo. "Just try and stop me!"

Star looked down at Moon briefly. Her terrified expression only served to motivate her further.

"Help!" muttered Moon softly.

"Oh, I'm gonna interfere with your plan, all right." grumbled Star as she pointed her wand towards the monsters.

 _"Narwhal Blast!"_

A massive, teal-colored beam of energy filled with narwhals and other sea creatures smacked straight into Bearicorn's torso. He was knocked to the ground by the force of the blast, and took a few seconds to stagger to his feet. Potato Baby and Buff Frog shuffled back towards Ludo in fear.

Ludo turned towards the rest of his minions and scowled. "SEIZE THEM!"

The remainder of Ludo's army sprinted towards Star and Marco, hoping that a quick cavalry charge would take them out. Marco and Star were expecting the charge, and quickly countered it.

 _"Jellybean Hallucination Mist!"_ shouted Star as she cast the spell into the crowd of cronies.

The large line of minions began to stagger and clump together as they were overcome by the spell. Unable to see where they were going, let alone who they were supposed to attack, several minions ended up on the receiving end of a well-placed side kick from Marco and were knocked to the ground.

"What are you doing?!" screamed Ludo frantically. "Somebody, anybody! Get that magic wand!"

Buff Frog and Potato Baby now ran towards Star, pulling along Bearicorn with them in a futile attempt to surround her. Not fazed one bit by the move, Star raised her magic wand again.

 _"Dagger Crystal Heart Attack!"_

Heart-shaped projectiles flew at high speed into the monsters, knocking them into a daze. They struggled to try and get up, but couldn't as much get onto their hands and knees. This left only Ludo himself as the last monster standing. Star raised her wand one final time and cast the most powerful spell she had cast yet.

 _"Syrup Tsunami Shockwave!"_

A massive, tsunami-like tidal wave of syrup washed into Ludo, knocking him violently into Buff Frog and Potato Baby, who were laying limp on the ground trying to catch their breath. The resulting smash threw all of them against a tree violently, knocking out Potato Baby and effectively ending the brawl.

After a couple tense seconds, Ludo struggled to his feet and seethed furiously.

"Just you wait, Star _Butterfingers_!" retorted the kappa mockingly. "This war isn't over yet! I'll get you next time, I swear!"

The monsters all got up slowly from the ground and moaned in agony. Unlike usual, Ludo didn't open a dimensional portal and flee back to his castle. Instead, he called Toffee to his side to help him decide what to do next.

"What now, Toffee?!" whispered Ludo huskily. "Star and Karate Boy have defeated me!"

Toffee folded his arms and grumbled. "I was expecting this was going to happen. But despite this loss, our efforts were not in vain."

"They weren't?" inquired Ludo.

"Not at all." explained Toffee. "This is only the beginning of our plan to depose those royals and steal that magic wand. This is only a gentle setback. A minor inconvenience. Get your minions. Once we're in a more suitable location, I'll tell you about my ideas for the next phase of our plan."

Ludo turned around and screamed loud enough for all of Mewni to heart him. "ALL RIGHT, YOU MORONS! PACK UP YOUR THINGS! WE'RE OUTTA HERE!"

After a brief pause, Ludo and Toffee lead their minions grudgingly away from the scene of the battle. With the danger of a wand-theft over, Star and Marco could now turn their attention to Moon.

Star reached her hand out toward her and helped her up. "Hey, uh... are you okay?"

"I think so." replied Moon. "When those monsters came up to me, I thought I was done for. I never saw it coming."

"Well, Ludo's been defeated, for the moment." asserted Marco. "For now, you're safe."

"Thank you." said Moon, who curtsied in respect.

"You're welcome." answered Star.

"If you don't mind, could you tell me your names?" asked Moon curiously.

Star giggled and flipped her hair. "Well, I'm Star and this is my best friend, Marco Diaz."

Moon smiled slightly. "It's nice to meet you."

"Well, it's nice to meet you too..." began Marco, before stopping mid-sentence. "Wait! Uh, what's your name?"

"My name's Moon." she responded before raising her wand into the air slightly. "I'm the Princess of Mewni. You could probably tell by my wand."

Star raised her wand into the air. "Well, I have a wand, too."

"Crap." thought Marco. "Now Moon's gonna ask where Star got her wand, and she's gonna spill the beans..."

Luckily, the whole question of how and where Star got her wand sailed directly over Moon's head.

"Your wand looks really cool." said Moon. "What do you use it for?"

"Well, whenever Ludo comes around, I use my wand to beat up his minions!" yelled Star, swinging her wand around in the air like a sword. "Marco uses his karate to help me out, too."

Moon looked at Star with a confused look on her face. "Who's Ludo?"

Knowing that revealing too much would make Moon even more suspicious, Marco quickly formulated a cover story.

"Well, you see, Ludo is this monster who has an army." explained Marco. "You know those monsters that attacked you? Ludo was their leader."

"I'm glad that you came in time." re-iterated Moon. "If you hadn't helped me, Mewni could have been done for."

"We're always willing to help." said Marco. "The problem's that Ludo's determined. In no time, he'll be back here with more monsters. We need to find someplace where Ludo can't find us."

"I think the castle would be an ideal hiding spot." suggested Moon. "It's protected by guards all day and night. As long as we keep ourselves inside the walls, Ludo shouldn't be able to find us."

"Are you sure?" asked Marco. "Do they even let outsiders in the castle?"

"Of course they do." answered Moon. "A few years ago, my friends and I had a sleepover inside the castle. It was actually pretty fun. We got not sleep, but it was worth it."

"Well then." replied the karateka as he bowed to her. "I'd really like to see the castle for myself."

Moon smiled in anticipation. "You won't be disappointed one bit, Marco."


	6. Already Seen

"I present to you Butterfly Castle."

Moon led her new friends down the main hall of the castle. Occasionally, Star and Marco would look off to the side of the path, catching glimpses of the hundreds of different rooms within the castle.

"I've lived here since the day I was born." narrated Moon. "This place has so many rooms that there are still rooms that I haven't seen yet."

"That's crazy." said Marco.

They continued to walk until they reached the end of the hall, where they came across an elegant staircase that granted access to the second floor above. Adjacent to the staircase was an oil painting of the Butterfly royal family. Star immediately noticed the image and pointed out its position to Marco.

"Hey Marco." whispered Star. "Doesn't that picture look familiar to you?"

Marco shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I've never seen it before. Is it familiar to you?"

"Well, yes. Back in 2015, this same painting is right here in this spot. It's just... it's not the same."

"Not the same?" asked Marco. "What do you mean it's 'not the same'?"

"Last time I remember, this painting was of my mom, dad, and me. Now look at it for yourself, Marco. Who do you see in the painting?"

Marco took a good look at the painting, and noticed that the painting was quite different from the one that Star was describing. Instead, the painting was an image of Moon and her parents. Like the modern variant of the painting, all of the family members depicted in the painting shared the same, deadpan expression. Perhaps it was a look of indifference, or maybe a look of subconscious pride in the strength and fortitude of the kingdom, but Marco couldn't tell for certain.

"Your mom and her parents." answered Marco flatly. "So that would mean that in 1985, her parents were then King and Queen."

"Exactly." said Star. "And if you look closer, you'll notice that my grandparents look like my parents. Kind sorta?"

Marco smirked a little. "Of course. Do you think we might meet them?"

Star flipped her hair and sneered sarcastically. "Of course! I think it's only a matter of time before we meet them. I mean, we're in the royal castle now!"

"But Star!" urged Marco hesitantly. "That might be a bad idea! We can't tell anyone that we're from the future!"

"I won't tell." insisted Star.

"You sure?" persisted the karateka.

"Nope." affirmed the inter-dimensional princess. "I'm just gonna act like I'm Moon's new bestie, like I have this whole time."

Star and Marco walked away from the painting and made their way up the stairs, which lead to the main dining hall. In the center of the dining hall was a large, rectangular table adorned with a royal blue colored silk tablecloth. Seated at the far end of the table were Moon's parents, who looked visibly surprised as Star, Marco, and Moon made their way closer towards them.

"Moon, why are you back so early?" asked Moon's father. "I thought you were going out into the villages to proclaim your possession of the magic wand."

"Are who are you?" inquired Moon's mother, who pointed to Star and Marco. "Are you Moon's friends?"

"Sort of." admitted Star. "Earlier, Marco and I helped her defend herself against Ludo."

"Ludo?" wondered the queen. "Who is Ludo?"

"He was this evil monster who attacked me and tried to steal my wand." explained Moon.

Moon's mother gasped. "That's awful! Are you all right?"

"Of course." answered Moon. "And it's all thanks to Star and Marco."

"I don't know how to thank you." announced the king. "You both helped save this kingdom from monster takeover. But before I can write you down in the history book for your achievements, I'd like to get your names."

Star blushed and smiled in a wide, Cheshire grin. "Well, my name's Star and this is my best friend, Marco."

"It's nice to meet you both." affirmed both royal parents.

Suddenly, the relative quiet and peace of the room was cut by the sound of a rumbling stomach.

Star chewed on the base of her wand. "Moon, what time is it?"

"Eleven-thirty." replied Moon.

"Well... actually, I'm pretty hungry right now." complained Star.

"Me too." added Marco.

Moon's father got up from his chair. "Not to worry, I'll send for the servants to—"

"Wait, Your Royal Highness." interrupted Star. "Marco's a pretty good cook. He could make us something."

"Are you sure?" asked the royal parents in unison.

Star grinned mischievously. "Of course he can! Marco, are you comfortable with making us food?"

"I don't see why not. As long as we have all the things I need to make us something to eat, then we're good."

Star opened her star-shaped purse and pulled out several things, including a saucepan, a bag of corn chips, and a jar of queso cheese sauce. She then handed the ingredients to Marco.

"I think we have everything we need!" yelled Star excitedly.

"So then, how long is it going to take for you to prepare this meal?" asked His Royal Highness.

"Maybe ten or fifteen minutes." replied Marco. "The dish I'm making isn't too complicated, but I think you'll enjoy it as much as I will."

* * *

Marco worked feverishly over the small, wood-fired stove near the dinner table.

"What are you cooking for us, Marco?" asked Moon's father.

"You're soon to find out, Your Royal Highness." replied Marco as he plated his dish.

"Feast your eyes on this!" yelled Marco as he whipped around, displaying his creation to the royals.

"What is this?" asked Moon.

"It's a snack that Star and I eat all the time." answered Marco. "It's called..."

"Marco's Super Awesome Nachos!" sang Star, who quickly grabbed some nachos off of the plate and handed them to Moon and her parents. Both of them looked at the teenagers in confusion.

"What are nachos?" asked Moon's father.

"Chips with melted cheese and other stuff on them." answered Star. "What are you waiting for? Take a bite!"

After a few more seconds of hesitation, they all carefully ate their nachos. Instantaneously, they gave each other, and then Marco, looks of complete astonishment.

"This is amazing!" boomed Moon's father. "Star was right. You are a very good cook, Marco."

"Well thanks." said Marco plainly.

"Tell me, Marco. What's your secret?"

"There is no secret, really." explained Marco. "You just need to go to a store, buy the ingredients, and then you'll be able to make them."

Her Majesty looked back at Marco, now confused as ever. "What's a store?"

Marco awkwardly grinned. "Well, uh... you know, that place where people sell stuff like food and clothes."

"Oh. I see." acknowledged Moon's mother.

"Hey, uh, Moon..." muttered Marco quietly. "Weren't you going to give us a tour of your room?"

"I think so. You want to set out for it now?"

"Sure. Why not?" reasoned Star. "Oh, and bring the nachos."

"No problem." affirmed Marco as he picked up the plate with the nachos on them.

* * *

Meanwhile, near the Forest of Certain Death, Toffee, Ludo, and his army had set up camp for the remainder of the day. As various minions began organizing supplies for their stay, Toffee and Ludo began to contemplate the next steps of their evil plan.

"Our first plan fell apart like wet paper." grumbled Ludo. "What's next on our to-do list?"

Toffee folded his arms and glared at the kappa monster. "Our next course of action is simple."

"What exactly _are_ we going to do?" asked Ludo.

"We are going to slightly alter our plan." elaborated Toffee. "If you have as good of a memory as I believe, you likely remember that our initial plan was to steal the wand outright from Moon Butterfly. Which, despite your minions' best efforts, failed miserably because of numerous reasons. The most obvious being that Princess Butterfly and her best friend interfered."

"Yes, I remember! I was there, you know!" chortled Ludo sarcastically.

"As a result of this unexpected roadblock, we need to take a different course of action." dictated Toffee. "Perhaps even an indirect course of action."

"Indirect course of action?" inquired Ludo.

In layman's terms, we need to lure Moon Butterfly to us." explained Toffee without hesitation.

"How are we going to do that?" wondered the kappa monster.

"We are going to lure Princess Butterfly and her companion into a trap."

"What kind of trap?" asked Ludo.

"A convoluted and foolproof trap. If all goes well, we could have that wand in our wands within twenty-four hours."

"How are you so sure?" asked Ludo.

"Trust my word." muttered Toffee in a low tone of voice. "If we set up our trap properly, there is no way that our inter-dimensional friends would not fall for it."

"Well? Let's get to work!" excitedly gasped the kappa monster. "Buff Frog!"

Buff Frog saluted first his master, and then Toffee. "Ludo! Master! What is your command?"

"Search this forest for River Butterfly." ordered Toffee sternly. "Do not give up your search until you have caught sight of him. Once you have found him, inform me and your fellow minions where he is. I have the means to capture that fool like a common feral monster and make him suffer. Now go, for we do not have time to waste."

"Um, yes!" answered Buff Frog, who promptly left for the thick of the woods.

Toffee pointed to Three-Eyed Potato Baby. "Once we have captured River Butterfly, you are going to flock to the center of the nearest town and tell as many people as you can about what we have done to him."

"I thought we were luring Moon to us!" interjected Ludo. "Why would we ever tell—"

"It's all part of the plan." explained Toffee. "When Princess Butterfly finds out that River has been kidnapped by us, she will most certainly try and free him. She'll bring along her companion and recently acquired royal friend to support her during the rescue attempt."

"Oh. Now I get what you're saying!" exclaimed Ludo.

"Precisely." retorted Toffee as he tilted his head skyward to catch a glimpse of Butterfly Castle. "Needless to say, Princess Butterfly's magic can only help her so much. Her lack of logic and trick will seal her fate."

At that moment, yet another simple phrase entered Toffee's head. A phrase said frequently among those who were educated enough to formulate multi-step plans.

 _"Absque sudore et labore, nullum opus perfectum est."_


	7. The Search

Buff Frog was perched in the canopy of a large, towering tree with expansive green leaves. He was seated down on one of the tree's mighty branches, peering through a pair of binoculars. He was searching the entirety of the forest that he could see, panning back and forth for the presence of River Butterfly. But it had been two hours already and he had yet seen anything of relevance to the search. Buff Frog was by no means a fan of having to sit in a tree for hours and observe others. He was fine with being forced to spy on Star, since she was almost always doing something magical or fun with Marco. But as for being forced to sit in a tree and search in vain for River Butterfly's past self in 1985? That was far beyond that call of duty, as far as he was concerned.

"Ludo said search for River Butterfly would not be hard." he muttered. "He very wrong. I been here forever and River Butterfly not anywhere."

Suddenly, he heard the rustling of leaves directly below where he was sitting. Hoping that it was Ludo coming to tell him it was time for a break, Buff Frog quickly lowered his binoculars and stared in the direction of the noise. Much to his dismay, Ludo was not the one climbing up the tree. Instead, it was Bearicorn, who had come to check up on Buff Frog's progress. He sat down as comfortably as he could in the cramped space of the tree canopy.

"Why are you here?!" grumbled Buff Frog.

"Boss sent me here." answered Bearicorn. "He wants to know if you've found anything."

Buff Frog hung his binoculars around his neck by the strap. "Tell him that I look for two hours and River Butterfly not anywhere near."

"Keep trying. You might find him by sunrise tomorrow morning." teased Bearicorn.

"I'll try." said Buff Frog.

Bearicorn began to leave, but suddenly changed his mind, having remembered the other reason why Ludo sent him to climb the tree.

"Not to mention, he also wants to know if you're looking in the right spot."

"I look exactly where he told me to look." argued Buff Frog.

"You sure?" asked Bearicorn as he walked out onto the branch Buff Frog was standing on. "Boss told me he wants you to sit over _there_."

Buff Frog squinted as he looked over to where Bearicorn was pointing towards: an adjacent branch. "Master want me to look from where I am."

"He changed his mind, apparently." assumed Bearicorn. "Now you should sit over there or—"

The branch the two were standing on began to sag downward and tremble slightly. Both monsters became visibly shocked.

"What you do to make branch shake?!" yelled Buff Frog.

"I didn't do anything!" insisted Bearicorn. "If anyone did anything, then it was you who—"

Suddenly, the branch Buff Frog and Bearicorn were standing on snapped completely in two. Within a split second, gravity took over and the two began to tumble towards the ground, eventually causing them to land on the damp forest floor with a tremendous thud. Although Ludo and Toffee were camped several hundred yards away from where they had fallen, they quickly became aware of the fall.

"What's that?!" asked Ludo, who was obviously disturbed by the sound of the fall.

"Sounds like your lookout has fallen out of the tree he was supposed to be sitting in." grumbled Toffee.

"Do you think Chad is hurt or something?" asked Ludo.

Toffee folded his arms and scoffed. "He fell less than twenty feet. Surely his injuries, if he is injured, are minor. Cuts, bruises, internal bleeding, et cetera. My concerns do not lie in the state of his health, but in the state of the health of our plan."

"Still, it's not that big of a deal!" claimed Ludo. "It's not like anyone heard him fall!"

"I beg to differ." argued Toffee. "When his body slammed into the ground, the ground shook, in a manner analogous to a small earthquake."

"Still, who cares?!" retorted the kappa monster. "Chad's a reliable minion!"

Toffee folded his arms in ambivalence. "Whether he is reliable or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is whether our plan is still being conducted in we secrecy."

"What's so important about secrecy?" questioned Ludo.

"As we discussed previously, our plan is to keep our actions secret until we send out Three-Eyed Potato Baby to give these locals the story of River Butterfly's kidnapping." dictated Toffee. "The secrecy of this plan was already on thin ice before we added you and all of your cronies to the mix."

"Maybe you're on to something." conceded the kappa monster.

" _I am_ on to something." muttered Toffee. "It's called how we're going to get that magic wand and put an end to this arduous, drawn-out war with Princess Butterfly and her family. But if you mess up this plan, then our chances of success will dwindle to near zero. I hope you understand my point."

Ludo sat down the soft grass near a tree. "I get what you're saying. We need to be more careful so we won't ruin our plan. Besides, I've waited far too long to get my hands on that magic wand!"

Meanwhile, much deeper in the thickets of trees and grasses, a teenage boy crept along, searching for feral monsters. He had been searching for the past few hours, but so far had yet to find anything worth hunting. His blonde hair was damp with the moisture of the humid, sultry forest. His iron sword was beginning to show the signs of rusting. As he listened intently for the sounds of monsters walking about, he began to hear noises. It sounded like muffled conversation, but he was too far away from the source to be able to decipher it.

"Say, what is making that noise?" he wondered as he resumed his search.


End file.
